Both the Year 7 Boys’ and Girls’ teams finished in a superb 6th place overall, in this national event, with amazing performances from Dominic Naylor who finished in 14th place in the Boys’ race and Lucy Lambert in 16th place for the Girls’ race.

The Year 8 & 9 Girls’ team was particularly strong and achieved a magnificent 2nd place overall nationally, with Lucy Fielden coming 18th, Laura Backhouse 26th and Fiona Anderson 32nd. Westholme had twelve runners in the Year 8 & 9 Boys’ and Girls’ race which is a superb turn out.

In the Year 10 & 11 race, the team finished in a very creditable sixth place with Flora Robson the first Westholme runner home. A special mention must go to Molly Nelligan as, despite falling on the first section of the course and badly bruising her arm, she continued the race by using her number as a makeshift sling and with the support of Rebecca Lloyd showed true Westholme spirit to complete this very challenging course.

However, three more pupils who definitely deserve a round of applause are our Sixth Form team: Hannah Dobrashian, Emma Dean and Rebecca Wignall who all completed the immensely challenging Year 12 & 13 race, which was over 6km long and included over 1000 feet (326m) of climbing. The girls showed true grit and determination to run this and were the fourth Girls’ team home – a magnificent achievement.

Miss Furness, Mrs Reade and Mrs. Buckley would like to say well done and thank you to all the twenty nine runners who took part. The organiser of the ESFRC, Richard Lecky-Thompson, commented on how impressive it is that so many Westholme students compete and how our students make more noise supporting each other during the races than any other school!